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EPOXI is a NASA unmanned space mission led by the University of Maryland using the existing ''Deep Impact'' vehicle to begin a new series of observations. It first investigated extrasolar planets and, on November 4, 2010, it performed a close approach to the comet 103P/Hartley (alternately named Hartley 2).〔 The new mission was originally announced on 3 July 2007 as including flyby of comet 85P/Boethin, but Boethin was too small and faint for its orbit to be calculated accurately, so the mission was subsequently retargeted for a 103P/Hartley flyby. NASA and the University of Maryland confirmed funding for the 103P/Hartley flyby in news releases issued on December 13, 2007. EPOXI combines two targets: the Deep Impact Extended Investigation (DIXI), and the Extrasolar Planet Observation and Characterization (EPOCh). Deep Impact will conduct both missions, the Extrasolar Planet Observation and Characterization during the cruise phase to 103P/Hartley, and the Deep Impact Extended Investigation at flyby. The spacecraft was also used as a test platform for a delay-tolerant networking transmission while at a distance of 20 million miles from Earth. In December 2011, and then later in October 2012,〔http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2012-313〕 the spacecraft fired its thrusters to target (163249) 2002 GT, near-earth asteroid in hopes of intercepting it for study in 2020.〔http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1112/17deepimpact/〕 NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in Pasadena, California manages EPOXI for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The Principal Investigator is Michael A'Hearn.〔 On August 8, 2013, communications with the spacecraft were lost. The mission team determined the source of the problem on August 30, and attempted to restore communications.〔http://epoxi.umd.edu/1mission/status.shtml〕 On September 20, 2013, NASA abandoned further attempts to contact the craft and declared the mission lost.〔(NASA calls off search for lost Deep Impact comet probe ) - Australian Broadcasting Corporation - Retrieved September 21, 2013.〕 == Mission == The ''Deep Impact'' mission was finished with the visit to comet Tempel 1. But the spacecraft still had plenty of maneuvering fuel left, so NASA approved a second mission, called EPOXI (Extrasolar Planet Observation and Deep Impact Extended Investigation), which included a visit to a second comet (DIXI component) as well as observations of extrasolar planets (EPOCh component).〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「EPOXI」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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